Legislators Pare Staff Because of Budget Cuts

Budget cutting required by Proposition 140, the term-limitation initiative approved by anti-incumbent voters in November, has stirred an exodus of experienced staff members from state Senate and Assembly offices in Ventura County.

So far, the five state lawmakers who represent portions of the county have lost 16 full- and part-time people, nearly a third of their office staffs. Some legislators fear that their offices may be too shorthanded to keep up with constituent demands.

Nearly all of these legislative aides, caseworkers and secretaries were helped on their way by five months of severance pay or a “golden-handshake” bonus for early retirement. These incentives were offered to encourage staff members to leave so that the Legislature could meet a 40% budget reduction required by Proposition 140.

But with their departure went much of legislative staffs’ long-term memory, contacts in the community and knowledge of how to solve recurring problems, legislators say.

“It hurts that I’m losing a lot of my really experienced people,” said Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley). Wright recently lost the administrator of her Simi Valley office and her top legislative aide in Sacramento, a woman who had been with Wright since she was first elected to the Assembly in 1980.

Office staff members provide what legislators consider valuable service in steering constituents through the state bureaucratic maze. The staff can also benefit lawmakers politically by speaking to groups and representing them at ceremonial functions.

Some confide that it has been a painful experience in the last few weeks watching longtime and otherwise loyal employees slip out the door before the budget cuts bring on tougher times.

Taking exception to such notions is Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), the lone supporter of Proposition 140 in the county’s delegation. McClintock, a fiscal conservative, said he was able to eliminate 1 1/2 positions in his office by making his operation more efficient, just as is done in the private sector.

“I don’t know why legislators are throwing such a conniption fit over this,” McClintock said. “This is something that businesses undergo every day. I find all of this hair pulling rather distasteful.”

For state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), however, the wave of budget cuts has forced the closure of one of his three offices in his sprawling district that stretches from Santa Barbara County across Ventura County to the western portions of Los Angeles County.

To meet budget reductions, Hart closed his Woodland Hills office, releasing two staff members there. His Ventura office is supposed to pick up the slack, even though two of its three staff members have taken advantage of severance pay or early retirement.

Hart said he is troubled that his constituents in Malibu and Canoga Park no longer have an office nearby. “The sad commentary is that the people who call tend to be desperate and don’t have the financial resources to hire an attorney or have the wherewithal to figure out what they need to do,” Hart said.

The cutbacks have occurred because California voters approved Proposition 140 last November by a 52% to 48% margin.

Proposition 140 eliminated state-run pensions for lawmakers and required a 40% cut in the Legislature’s $164-million budget. The 80-member Assembly will absorb 58.8% of the cuts and the 40-member Senate 41.2%. Although the reductions need not be made until July 1, both chambers decided to offer incentives to encourage people to leave.

All members of the Assembly had their individual office budgets reduced from $287,000 last year to $200,900 this year, said Bob Connelly, chief administrative officer of the Assembly Rules Committee.